THREATS of violence, swearing and sabotage hardly sound like model
behaviour – but that is life behind the scenes of Britain’s Next Top Model
2016.
So says former contestant Alex Needham, who claims taking part in the show
left her a “nervous wreck”.
In an exclusive interview with The Sun on Sunday, Alex lifts the lid on what
the catwalk wannabes will do to get an edge over their rivals.
They include girls bingeing on laxatives to lose weight and using piles cream
on their FACES, while Alex herself says she considered burning rivals’ hair
extensions and cutting holes in their dresses.
The 22-year-old claims bitching and backstabbing was commonplace on the
Lifetime reality show, saying the fierce rivalry between contestants would
often threaten to erupt into violence.
READ MORE:
Happy
Holly-days: Geordie Shore star wears very revealing top for flight home from
Oz
Clothes
Gone, Girl? Emily Ratajkowski shares her latest nude shoot with fans
Some arguments got so heated worried show bosses banned the contestants from
boozing.
Alex tells how one budding catwalk queen joked about putting Vaseline in
Alex’s shoes to sabotage her chances of impressing on the runway.
And she brands head judge Abbey Clancy the “biggest bitch of them all”,
claiming the model was standoffish, overly critical and made her feel
uncomfortable.
Alex, who was booted off the show on episode four of the current series, says
the swish North London penthouse she shared with 11 other hopefuls was run
like a prison.
‘I thought I was going to die on the catwalk’
Tensions mounted from the off. The show’s bosses provided just four double
beds for contestants to sleep in, with the rest left to bunk down in tiny
pull- out beds.
Alex said: “The first night everyone ran for a bed.
“Some of the louder girls were very vocal about not wanting to sleep in one of
the cabin beds and started shouting that they would slap any girl who dared
to take one of the double beds.
“Another said she would make their lives hell for anyone who claimed one.”
Arduous 16-hour days left the contestants constantly tired and irritable.
But that did not dampen their determination to make an impression on Abbey and
the show’s revamped judging panel, which includes model Paul Sculfor,
fashion journalist Hilary Alexander and photographer Nicky Johnston.
In scenes that could have come from the fashion spoof Zoolander, the girls
went to great lengths to ensure they were crowned winner.
Alex said: “The second time I met Amreen [Akhtar] she joked about stuff like,
‘I’m going to put Vaseline in your shoes’.
“I thought I was going to be killed in the competition. I thought then that
this girl was going to be nothing but trouble.
“The task after that was a catwalk — and she was walking after me, so she
could have done anything. I did wonder if I was going to die on the task.
“I think some of the girls would have done anything in order to win, even if
that meant throwing someone under the bus.
“To be honest, I would have done anything and I wish now that I’d been more
ruthless. I should have taken someone’s shoes, cut a hole in the boob of
their dress or burnt their hair extensions. Then it would have been one
down, another 11 to go.”
On one occasion, contestant Angel Cole quizzed the others when her clothes
suddenly went missing.
Alex, of Sheffield, said: “Angel was accusing everyone of stealing them and
trying to sabotage her.
“In the end we found they’d fallen off the hangers and were still in the
wardrobe.”
The tense atmosphere meant the aspiring models nearly came to blows on several
occasions.
Alex said: “One of the girls threatened to punch another on the nose and there
was always a lot of effing and blinding.
“We weren’t allowed alcohol if we’d had arguments earlier in case it fuelled
the fire.
“There wasn’t a day when I didn’t cry. I came home with scabs under my eyes
from constantly wiping my eyes. It was brutal on my emotions and I came back
a nervous wreck.
“The girls would always be trying to psyche you out.”
Shockingly, Alex saves her fiercest criticism for head judge Abbey. The
30-year-old model and TV presenter, who is married to Stoke City footballer
Peter Crouch, replaced supermodel Elle Macpherson on the show.
Alex ranted: “She’s just a bitch and I don’t think she is a woman’s woman.
Elle Macpherson seemed like a mother figure but Abbey wasn’t approachable
and was meant to be our mentor.
“I did not feel that she was the right person for the job and I didn’t learn
anything from her.
“She didn’t seem to give constructive criticism and just dragged me down.
“It was like being in a Mean Girls situation around her. It was always very
bitchy.
“I felt a relationship with her as a head judge would be a no-brainer but I
was never in a situation where I felt like we could approach her.
“She seemed to like the ‘princess’ girls more than our independent group of
girls.
“She wouldn’t give me the time of day. She just made me feel so uncomfortable.
As soon as you walked in the room, she seemed to look at you from head to
toe and made you feel small. It knocked my confidence a lot.”
But Alex was not the only one having a hard time on the show.
She claimed: “Abbey appeared to struggle to get her lines right.
“They tried to simplify the lines for her as she just didn’t seem able to get
it right. Maybe she was nervous.
“During one of the eliminations we were all standing there shaking, barely
breathing, and she seemed to take forever to get her lines right about who
was going home.
“Then it was, ‘Can you do my hair and get me a glass of water?’ It was so
frustrating. On the initial shoot task, she had to come out of a trailer and
meet us for the first time. It seemed to take several takes to get it right.”
Alex continued: “I thought she was going to be very hands-on.
“But she was barely around and was never there for a substantial amount of
time for us to get to know her.
‘At times, it was like living in a prison’
“Abbey assassinated my character, calling me arrogant and cocky when she had
barely ever spoken to me. No one has ever called me that before.”
Models are notorious for watching their weight, but Alex says they turned to
fatty take- aways in desperation because they were so hungry.
She said: “I lost weight because I couldn’t physically eat at the times we got
to have our first proper meal, 9pm to 11pm.
“I lost just under a stone and everyone said I was looking thin, including one
of the producers.
“There wasn’t a kitchen or chefs, so everything had to be ordered in once we’d
got back.
“We’d eat Thai and Nando’s a lot. That was the thing we complained about the
most, as a lot of the girls were health freaks. At times, it was like I was
living in a prison.
“They took our mobiles, purses, magazines and books. We weren’t allowed any
contact with the outside world. We weren’t even allowed to go to the toilet
while the cameras were being set up when we were out filming and we’d have
to hold our bladders.”
Alex added: “A lot of the girls were conscious about their weight and had
their own insecurities.
“One of the girls was on a detox so she would eat and then take a laxative.
“She said it would ‘flush her out’ and that was her secret to keeping in
shape. She also used cream for piles on her face.
“In the morning a group of four girls would stay in the bathroom for nearly
two hours and would come out looking flawless.
“They always hogged the bathroom and I swear they did it on purpose. It wasn’t
fair.” Last night a representative for the show said: “The welfare of our
girls is always our number one priority throughout.
“We make sure all the girls are well looked after by the crew, the four judges
and other specialist professionals.
“We take seriously our duty of care towards them and strongly refute any
suggestion that this was not the case.”
A source close to the show said: “All of the judges were told to only engage
with the girls on set during filming.
“To single Abbey out as unapproachable is unfair.
“All TV shows involve multiple retakes, as anyone in the TV industry knows.”